Camilo Arango RR#5

Camilo Arango

Reading Response # 5

English 102

1.  In literature, the word agency means, “the freedom and capacity to live or act in a defined world.”  And so, when you look at the character of Antigone, to what extent does she have agency in the play?  In what ways have you seen her act on her own ability to live and survive in this particular world?

She shows agency trough all the play. She act on her own accord trying to make her voice be hear. Antigone decides to break the law, simply because it did not seem fair. She believed that the laws of their gods must prevail over those of the rulers, and thus she decided to violate a law that she considered not unfair, but false. Anyway, her disobedience is peaceful and she never tried to damage the integrity of anyone else, not even Creon, from who she held rancor. Moreover, considering she does not accept the law as such, it is strange to see how she resigned and accept the imposed punishment, which is none other than death.

The laws governing the moral principles of Antigone, are the law of customs, religion and family. Before Creon order to not bury Polynices, because of the alleged crime he had committed, Antigone decides to disobey his order even if this involves her own life. She cannot betray his brother and so she tells her sister Ismene "He is my brother. And he is your brother, too". As  Ismenes is reluctant try and give a proper burial to her brother. Customs and morality imposed Fidelity on the family, and says that everyone must be properly buried and adds "Creon is not enough to stand in my way." These statements that Antigone made to his sister, Showed the strength of her religious beliefs and family loyalty. Being that disobeying the law that Creon had imposed regarding the corpse of Polynices, can lead her to own death, and she would rather die than to go back on her principles.

She does not accept the law as she thinks it is unjust and false, but she held a peaceful disobedience and received death as punishment without trying to oppose or seek clemency.The burial of Polynices, who according to divine law, was obligatory. In ancient Greece, the funeral rite was important because it was believed that if a body was not buried, the soul could not enter Hades and would stay wandering in this world. After the death of the sons of Oedipus, Creon forbids any type of funeral services, perhaps without realizing that his human law is trying to overcome a divine law, a situation that Antigone warns therefore exclaims: " Your edict, King, was strong, But all your strength is weakness itself against  The immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, Operative forever, beyond man utterly".

I believe that religious influence is so great that Antigone becomes a heroine by using her freedom to choose death as a destination (breaking the law) rather than offend the gods.